Insomnia
by Mirrankei
Summary: Between his back and the mattress was an elbow. A body, and an unpleasantly sharp elbow that he marveled he'd ever been able to sleep through lying on earlier.


Fingertips were splayed delicately over his stomach, resting with a comfortable warmth that Jaime wasn't sure how to deal with just yet. One of his arms was behind his head, under his pillow in a position that had seemed comfortable an hour ago, but his shoulder was starting to cramp up. His back was also hurting with the dull ache that came from lying on something hard and having it dig into your back.

Not the Scarab, obviously. He'd gotten used to that long enough ago that he only noticed the extra pressure on his spine when he was sitting in a really, really hard chair. Or when the Scarab was annoyed with him.

Between his back and the mattress was an elbow. A body, and an unpleasantly sharp elbow that he marveled he'd ever been able to sleep through lying on earlier.

And snoring. Well, not so much snoring as heavy breathing. Hell it might not have even been heavy, except that it was very close to his ear, and with nothing else in the room to distract his ears, seemed very, very loud indeed.

He risked turning his head. He swore his neck cracked with the miniscule movement. The clock beside his bed was analog (and great, now that he was aware of it, the _tick tick tick_ was another irritating sound to fixate on), but he could see it with a quick access to the Scarab's systems.

[It is three hours and thirty-seven minutes past midnight,] the Scarab told him tetchily, though he could see that fine for himself with the night vision. [You are expected at the Watchtower in less than four hours, you should be sleeping.]

Jaime didn't bother to answer. Pretending to sleep wouldn't do any good, but neither would arguing, because the Scarab would only suggest either that it be allowed to sedate Jaime for his own good, or that the cause of his insomnia be eliminated. Or at least ejected from the room.

Jaime didn't want to do either of those things. For all the discomfort of his position, Jaime was…comfortable. Emotionally. That, and _We don't eliminate people_, he added, for appearances' sake.

The Scarab made it clear that he found putting something as fickle as emotions above physical health and comfort completely illogical. If it had eyes, it would have rolled them. Jaime could have sworn it heaved a heavy sigh and murmured under its mental breath, _humans_.

Jaime smirked at its exasperation and closed his eyes. He risked shifting slightly, though not away from his main obstacle. He leaned towards it, using his unpinned arm to reach around and grab Bart around the waist.

Bart tensed very slightly at the movement, his brow furrowing into a frown against Jaime's chest. His fingers clenched against his stomach, and he turned his face further against his skin.

"'sizzn't time 'nna get up yet," he muttered, still half asleep.

"I know it isn't, ese," Jaime said, laughing slightly. Bart murmured and buried his face even further. "Go back to sleep."

"Iamma zleep," he muttered back. True to his word, Bart started snoring almost immediately, this time a little more than just heavy breathing, with his nose and mouth half blocked off by Jaime's skin.

Jaime rolled his eyes and tucked his free hand into Bart's hair. He turned his head so that he wouldn't suffocate himself, the mixed emotion of exasperation and affection echoed by the Scarab in the back of his mind.

[Will you sleep now, Jaime Reyes?] it asked, oddly hushed even though it wasn't making any real sound.

"It's not like I'm not trying, Scarab," Jaime whispered back.

[Shall I increase your melatonin levels?]

"Don't suppose you could play soothing sounds of the ocean or something instead."

The Scarab didn't dignify that with a response, but Jaime could feel his eyes starting to droop again. He was torn briefly between being stubborn just for the sake of it and fighting to stay awake anyway, but his thoughts were becoming more and more disjointed and repetitive, and he didn't really _want_ to be awake. He just wanted to enjoy this moment. Elbow against his spine and all.

Soon both boys were snoring.

A long, spindly appendage carefully extended itself from Jaime's back, extracted Bart's arm and gently repositioned it to rest between both humans' bodies. Jaime Reye's body relaxed, and Bart Allen snuggled against his arm and Jaime's chest.

The Scarab retracted its 'arm' and tried its best to ignore the sound of the clock.


End file.
